. they said a light dusting and this morning, you wake up and there's four inches of

snow. some schools opened late. some not at all. snow and freezing temperatures arrived this morning. thank you for joining us. i'm jc hayward. so let's get right to howard in the weather center because guess what? he has more snow in his forecast. howard? >> that's right, jc. that lady is correct. we thought maybe 2 or 3 inches in the higher totals but there were 5 and a half inch totals in extreme spt mayor yes's -- st. mary's county. up in frederick, lynn only had about an inch there. that was the range. when you looked at frederick, montgomery county, d.c., we had an inch or so you go south lusby, four to five inches and the five and a half inch total was in the ridge area there in st. mary's county. and in prince frederick, had an inch and a half. they may have ended up with two or three. the system is now gone. quickly out to sea. we're going to turn our attention to storm number two.

that storm hasn't formed yet. there's upper level energy up here. you can sort of see the clouds. a little kink in canada. this is going to come diving southeast through the jet stream. it will get here tomorrow likely in the afternoon. maybe even late afternoon, early evening. so ahead of it, we've got the cold air in place. another storm comes and it's going to bring us some snow, some accumulating snow. should be fluffy and i think this is a fast moving light storm. as far as the rest of today, 29, 30 for that high. kind of breezy. tonight we'll be in the mid-20s by 9:00. clouds roll in overnight. if you want an extensive list of the snow totals, go to our website wusa9.com. check out my blog. i've got a very extensive list there. when i come back in a few minutes, i'll tell you how much snow i think storm number two could bring to the region. >> thank you very much, howard. as he said, areas in southern maryland got the greatest snow totals and that's where delia goncalves was this morning. she talked to some of the people and she got some pretty pictures. >> reporter: i drove from suitland off route 4 here in

st. mary's county, mechanicsville off route 5. we passed several counties. prince george's, calvert, charms and st. mary's county. the main roads are all looking good, but here in town many of the side streets still snow packed. they received about 4 inches of snow. light, fluffy snow here in town. how are the roads treating you? >> real good so far. they're out doing their job. >> reporter: any difference between the main roads and the side streets? >> yes, there is. you know, it's not bad at all. people are getting around. >> reporter: not as much as you expected? >> no. >> reporter: you still have your milk and eggs. >> you can't be prepared enough because there is rumor there's another storm coming. so i want to get the essentials and be ready just in case. >> it was pretty slick. it was really slick this morning. you couldn't see the asphalt or anything. it was bad. >> reporter: did it catch you off guard? >> yes. oh, my gosh, yes.

they said a light dusting and then this morning, you wake up and there's like four inches of snow. >> reporter: i guess the word of advice is to take it slow, whether or not we have a foot or a couple of inches. >> a hundred percent. you need to. >> reporter: take their advice. drive slowly today and remember, have enough tread on your tires because that can make or break your whole snow driving experience. in mechanicsville, st. mary's county, zeal deal, wu -- delia goncalves, wusa9. the freezing temperatures turned a water fountain in new york city into an ice sculpture. this is in bryant park. new yorkers have been snapping pictures and posing in front of the fountain. temperatures in the mid-teens are expected to keep this icy look for at least a while. some of the coldest weather in years is complicating efforts to fight a huge fire in chicago. the flames broke out for a second day in a warehouse filled with old timber.

the building was already covered with ice from water used to fight the flames yesterday. crews spent the night attempting to douse hot spots, but the fire broke out again this morning. city officials say this is the largest fire in chicago in the past seven years. defense secretary leon panetta will announce an historic change for the united states military today. the pentagon will lift its ban on women serving in combat roles. susan mcginnis has more. >> reporter: the new pentagon policy makes women eligible to serve in army and marine infantry units. there's also the potential for them to be a part of elite special operations teams, like the navy seals and delta force. victoria rivers was a machine gunner who went on missions with special ops forces. >> working side by side with special forces team, it was pretty cool. >> reporter: but in order to join, women must be able to meet the rigid strength and stamina requirements of those

units. >> there's jobs that women can't do physically, because they just don't have the strength, the physical strength to do it. >> reporter: by lifting the combat exclusion policy, the pentagon is opening the door to more women being killed or wounded in action. combat operations in iraq and afghanistan have cost more than 130 women their lives, and more than 800 have been wounded. dawn commanded a platoon in iraq. she lost her arm fighting alongside an infantry unit. >> there's not a lot of big difference at all. a lot of missions we did, we would do with filled artillery units. we were all fighting the same fight doing the same thing. >> reporter: the executive director of the service women's action network is a former marine captain. she says front line jobs will mean more advancement for female officers. >> in the civilian world, we refer to the glass ceiling when women can't get beyond a point

in their job progression. in the military we call it the brass ceiling. >> reporter: some of the new jobs will open to women this year, but the different branches of the service have till 2016 to make a case that some of the jobs should remain closed to women. in washington, susan mcginnis, cbs news. defense officials tell the associated press military chiefs must report back to secretary panetta with their initial plans to put women on the combat lines by may 15. it was caught on tape, a giant sewer explosion. cameras installed on residential buildings captured the underground blast in china. the road's surface was blown away and concrete pieces flew in all directions. fortunately there were no casualties. coming up on wusa9, the senate considers one of their own to be the next secretary of state. >> reporter: congress gets set to take up new gun control legislation. i'm tara mergener on capitol hill with the

confirmation hearings got under way today for senator john kerry. the massachusetts democrat has bipartisan support, and he is expected to be approved as the next secretary of state. senator kerry is noted for his experience and relationship building skills. he was nominated by president obama after his first choice, united nations ambassador susan rice withdrew her name. senator kerry will undoubtedly be forced to deal with north korea while at the state department. the communist nation said today it will carry out further rocket launches and a nuclear test that would target the united states. the announcement comes one day after the united nations security council agreed to a u.s. backed resolution to censure and sanction north

korea for a rocket launch last month. coming up on wusa9, get a room. we'll tell but a new campaign to bring couples and their cash to d.c. >> howard? >> jc, we have sunshine now but some winds are beginning to gust. these temperatures are some kind of cold. 23 at andrews. 25 crofton. 24 centreville. i'll be back talking about storm number

a new campaign is under way to bring love, romance and people to the nation's capital. date nights d.c. is an effort to increase hotel bookings, restaurant reservations and tourism during the traditionally slow month of february. organizers are working with the website. >> we need people to come into the city, check into hotels, and once they're here, we know they're going to go out and eat. they're going to go to theater. they're going to go shopping and do loot of things -- and do a lot of things. >> organizers are working with the website living social as part of the effort to get people excited about coming to washington, d.c. over the next couple of months. >> we do have some very good restaurants and theaters as you know very well. >> yes, i do know. in fact, we're going to have the artistic director of arena stage here in a moment. we have great theaters. let's talk about the snow

in your forecast. >> a beautiful snowfall last night and this morning. >> it was. >> some folks, yeah, it was a little bit more, especially south, than we anticipated. i was thinking one to two, even three. we ended up with five and a half inches in extreme st. mary's county. the dry, fluffy snow, if you're a skier, the kind of snow you want to do the first treks on. topper was cleaning his driveway with a leaf blower, that kind of snow. the snow is gone. the sun is out. we're doing some melting even though temperatures are only in the low to mid-20s now. we're doing some melting. we're going to head toward the 30-degree mark here in d.c. we have some spots north and west who will be staying in the 20s today. the winds are gusting now in that 25 mile an hour range. some of the snow is blowing around. yeah, windchills also once again on the uncomfortable side. 27 by 7:00. and by 9:00, 25. we'll maybe get a couple clouds by then but it's going to be

really overnight, past midnight when the clouds return. tomorrow some snow is going to return. had the snow this morning. heaviest stuff down south. you see the darker blue on the radar, that's heavier snow. we really stayed mainly with a light snow to moderate snow in many spots. we just had the more moderate banding over senior maryland, st. mary's county, southern charles. even into the northern neck two to three, three and a half-inch snow totals. your temperatures mid-20s in annapolis. easton 25. lower 20s from cumberland at 23 and hagerstown also 23 to 28 in fredricksburg. that is our warm spot. looking at the windchills, though, doesn't feel warm anywhere. feels like 9 in hagerstown. feels like 11 at andrews. lexington park, they got a nice little snowfall out of this. outside on our michael & son weather camera, lots of sunshine. 26 at national. feels like 14 with the northwesterly winds at 17 and the humidity only 49%.

we'll take the moisture that we've got. our weather headlines, we're talking about storm number two. it's on the way. it arrives tomorrow afternoon. could even be late afternoon, early evening. looks like one to maybe three for the area. i'm leaning more toward one but the fluff factor. if we get the snow ratios in the 15-1 ratio or higher, you know that could get you more. down south, all that snow, there wasn't a lot of liquid in it. you could probably clear it off your windshield with a stheez or a cough at -- sneeze or a cough at this point. we talked about this at the top of the broadcast, the storm coming out of areas of southern canada. this jet stream is ripping southeast. it's bringing pieces of energy like the one we had last night. it will biff another one late -- bring another one late tomorrow. it's going to increase the clouds. the only question we have, it looks kind of dry. will it touch a little moisture from the south, the gulf of mexico. if it can draw some of that moisture in, then we'll have something. there are areas in north

carolina, eastern tennessee, extreme southwestern virginia. but around here, 2:00 tomorrow, cloudy. there's the snow moving in during the afternoon to 6:00. looks like it will be snowing especially on the west side. then pulling out of here potentially by midnight. we'll get rid of that pretty quickly and end up with a decent weekend. the yellow alert is over. just blustery this afternoon. tonight 21 in d.c. with mid- teens north and west. cloudy tomorrow. snow late in the afternoon, 28. 23 on friday night with the snow ending overnight. 32 saturday. then a warming trend begins. by sunday 38. monday 42. look at those temperatures. tuesday and wednesday got temperatures in the 50s, although wednesday looks like it's going to be on the wet side. yes, looks like the pattern is going to change for the warmer side for just a little while. time for petline 9 now. today we've got kristen from the washington humane society. she's got chipper the bunny with her. chipper the bunny.

i'm saying hi to chipper. we were talking earlier, do people come specifically for bunnies or they end up with a bunny when maybe they were looking for something else? >> some people do come in specifically for bunnies. others come in not sure what they're looking for and they fall in love with one of these guys. they make great pets. >> you were telling me before bunnies are kind of like cats. >> they are a little bit like cats. you can litter train them for one. and they're also quite snugly, as you can see here. this guy is kind of hanging out on my lap. he's been doing this for a little while now. they're very snugly. they like to cuddle. >> what kind of bunny is that? >> this is a standard rabbit. bunnies are a little smaller. this is going to be a rabbit. as you can see, he just has those regular straight up ears. he's a big white albino bunny. >> this is a pretty good bunny or pet if you live in an apartment because they're

quiet. >> absolutely. >> they don't make any noise good very quiet. they can growl when they get upset or angry but that's about it and they can chirp a little bit. but they're very, very quiet pets as a whole. >> one last question. do you have to worry about the rabbits chewing on stuff? >> you do that's actually a major concern with bunnies. you do want to provide them with appropriate things to chew on like wood blocks, veggies, things like that. >> how can folks contact you at the humane society. >> www.washhumane.org. >> if you missed it, don't worry. go to our website wusa9.com. go to the petline section. we've got to get you out of

the fight over gun control

moves from the streets to the halls of congress today because senator dianne feinstein is introducing a bill to ban assault rifles and high capacity ammunition clips. tara mergener has more information now from capitol hill. >> reporter: dianne feinstein from california will introduce a bill banning assault weapons and high capacity ammunition clips. >> you need to do something about the guns. >> reporter: connecticut senators richard bloomenthal and chris murphy are cosponsoring the bill. they say the shooting at sandy hook elementary school in newtown, connecticut proves there's a need to ban assault weapons. >> newtown fundamentally changed things. >> reporter: but the nra says law-abiding citizens need the same technology the criminals have. >> that means we believe in our right to defend ourselves and

our families with semiautomatic firearms technology. >> reporter: the nra has a lot of support here on capitol hill, especially in the house where many say an assault weapons ban has little chance of being passed. >> this is going to be a tough go. >> reporter: and it may be tough to win over some of the public as well. on wednesday, sheriffs in missouri, california and texas announced they would not enforce new gun control laws, such as an assault weapons ban. >> if there are laws passed that i feel and can prove that are unconstitutional, we will not enforce those rules and regulations here and i think we have the powers to do that. >> reporter: president obama is sending vice president biden on the road to gather public support. >> we're going to take it to the american people. >> reporter: the trip begins tomorrow with a rally in virginia to promote gun control. i'm one on one today with molly smith. not only is she my friend, but

she's artistic director of arena stage. i think it's safe to say we were all touched by the violence in newtown, but mollie as a private citizen died to do something about her pain and her grief. and there's a march on washington this weekend. and the average citizen can participate. what do you hope to achieve? >> well, the main thing we really hope to achieve is to focus on gun control. i mean, we are looking at areas like reinstating the assault weapon ban, requiring universal background checks, prohibiting high capacity ammunition magazines. a lot of it has to do with what the president's proposal is. the president and the vice president have been absolutely extraordinary on this issue. and this is an opportunity for ordinary citizens to move from being armed chair activists to actually march with their feet. this weekend, on january 26,

starting at 10:00 a.m. down at the capitol reflecting pool which is right across the street from the american indian museum and march on constitution avenue to show who we, the people, as president obama said, we have this moment. we have this moment. we were built for this moment. we were created for this moment. and if we come together on this as a community, because all of our lives are touched by gun violence, then we can move forward. and people have been asking me, molly, you're theater director. >> that's the question. you're not a planner of marches. how did you decide this? >> because i think gun control is everybody's issue. and i knew, jc, that it would be very important to do this quickly instead of waiting for four months or five months to do it right away, which has basically been intense to plan a march within about a month period of time. but i have to say extraordinary

citizens -- there's about two dozen people on the committee. every walk of life, from a 12- year-old boy making videos to an 8 85-year-old grandmother who have joined together on this issue. >> go to my website jchayward.com. we'll get more information on how to participate. thank you, molly. >>